Team 9
by lkm20
Summary: When his application to the Ninja Academy is rejected, Naruto is taken under the wing of one of Konoha's jounin- one Rokushou Aoi. Mature!Naruto. Rated M for violence in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1 An Alternative Education

AN- I don't own Naruto, and believe me, I am devastated.

The concepts of the Essential Eight and the Traveler's Ten are the intellectual property of Perfect Lionheart, as far as I can make out. I highly recommend you read his fic, Chunin Exam Day.

* * *

TEAM 9

CHAPTER 1- An Alternative Education

It was the morning after the Genin exam in Konoha, and a young shinobi, his hitai-ite bearing the spiral symbol of the Hidden Leaf tied around his head, was making his way toward the Shinobi Academy.

He was a robust-looking kid, dressed in a plain black long-sleeved tunic and long trousers of the same color. His feet sported black shinobi sandals, and at the neck of his tunic could be seen the metal weave of the protective mesh armor favored by many shinobi. A holster for kunai & shuriken was strapped to each leg- above black wrappings to prevent the straps from chafing- and a round equipment pouch attached to his hip at either side. Above the thigh holsters pouches for scrolls were sewn onto the fabric of the trousers. Blonde hair stuck up above the black piece of cloth the hitai-ite was mounted on, and beneath it blue eyes above whisker-marked cheeks observed the world.

It was actually a miracle that Uzumaki Naruto was a qualified shinobi at all. He had applied to enter the academy at the same time that a Kumo shinobi attempted to kidnap the heir of the prestigious Hyuuga clan and the Hokage, being busy dealing with the diplomatic fallout from that incident- which ultimately ended in Kumo undergoing an abrupt and forceful change in leadership- that he had not been able to intercede to stop the academy administrators throwing Naruto's application in the bin out of hand. Naruto, disappointed and upset, had redecorated the Hokage monument before fleeing into the forests on the outskirts of the village to get away from the irate mob of villagers pursuing him. There, he had met Rokushou Aoi.

The young jounin had stopped the vengeful mob- the prospect of provoking an experienced shinobi by attacking him was ugly enough to make even them have second thoughts- and at length managed to discover why it was Naruto had pulled the prank that rouse their ire. Aoi, who like most shinobi of chuunin rank or above know about the demon sealed within the boy, had been shocked. The increased chakra capacity granted to him by his tenant would make him an incredibly powerful shinobi, likely Kage-level, some day- but clearly the fools at the Academy had been unable to see past their prejudices.

Aoi, radiating killing intent, had marched straight to the Hokage, Naruto in tow, and demanded to know how this could've been allowed to happen and what the Hokage was doing about it. Sarutobi had explained and apologized- unfortunately there was no way that Naruto could be admitted to the Academy before start of the next year. Aoi responded that, in that case, he would train Naruto himself. After all, they couldn't count on the same instructors who'd rejected his application to actually make an effort to give him a good education, could they? It took the jounin a while to talk the Hokage round, but he had eventually given his consent.

Aoi immediately enlisted his old genin team, now graduated and qualified as chuunin, as mentors and older siblings to Naruto. Umino Iruka, Morino Idate and Inuzuka Hana were all too happy to help. Now, four years of training under Aoi and his former pupils had paid off. Granted, the first year had been frustrating- Aoi insisted that he focus on improving his chakra control- which turned out to be abysmal- for the whole year before he even thought of learning any jutsu. At the end of the year, Aoi had a private instructor called Ebisu test him- the man's verdict on Naruto's chakra control was that it was 'decent, almost above average'; quite a compliment coming from the notoriously tight-lipped tokubetsu jounin.

To Naruto's subsequent delight, the more serious training started the next day. Aoi set about teaching him the Basic Three- the Clone, Body Replacement and Transformation Techniques. It wasn't enough just to learn to use such basic techniques- he had to be able to perform them seallessly, tracelessly, and at a moment's notice. It took three months of work.

Once Aoi was satisfied with his Basic Three, they proceeded onto learning the group of techniques and skills commonly known as the Essential Eight- the basic skills that every shinobi of genin rank upwards knew. Body Flicker, Rope Escape, Genjutsu Release, Silent Homicide, Stealth, Intelligence Gathering, Explosive tag use and Wire use- with the last came the String Reeling Technique. Aoi edited the Silent Homicide Technique from the year's curriculum, and Naruto's massive chakra reserves meant it was impossible for him to completely suppress his chakra flow as the Genjutsu Release demanded. Instead, Aoi taught him to disrupt genjutsu using a chakra pulse- which he proved to be very well suited to.

When Aoi was satisfied he'd mastered all of it, there were still two months left until Ebisu's return to test him again, so Aoi started him on basic elemental manipulation.

The chakra paper test determined that he was wind-natured, so Aoi had him work on the leaf cutting exercise. After he could cut the leaf quickly and with relative ease, he showed him the two wind techniques- Smoke Dispersal and Trail Clearing- of the Traveler's Ten.

The Traveler's Ten were, like the Essential Eight, techniques that were common to all Hidden Villages- every rookie genin knew one or two. As the name would suggest they were designed to make life easier for shinobi who were on missions that took them into a wilderness environment, as so many missions of C-rank and above often did. They also doubled as a useful training tool for basic elemental manipulation- typically a genin would learn at least the two corresponding to their elemental affinity.

When Ebisu returned to test him, he had Naruto demonstrate everything he'd learned over the past year, including the leaf cutting exercise and the two wind techniques. Ebisu, grudgingly and at length, admitted that he was at the level of a rookie genin just out of the academy- this at a time when his age-mates still had two years left before graduation.

The Hokage, when they went to visit him afterwards, suggested that Naruto take the genin exam and be placed with a team since he was ready. Aoi immediately squashed that idea- he wanted Naruto to take the genin exam at the same time that his age-mates would be taking it, and to be one of the jounin sensei for that year. Naruto would, of course, be placed on his team rather than anyone else's.

On the day immediately after the tests, Aoi set Naruto to work again. The jounin had already decided that his pupil was best suited to being a ninjutsu powerhouse due to his massive chakra capacity, and so wanted him to have a firm grounding in all five elements, not just the one he had an affinity for. The leaf exercises returned, except instead of cutting it Naruto had to moisten it (for water), crumple it (for lightning), dry it to dust (for earth), or make it burn (for fire).

As soon as he mastered the leaf exercise for a particular element- the first one he managed was water- Aoi immediately had him stop the exercises and start working on the techniques from the Traveler's Ten that used that element. It took him eight months, but eventually he could perform all of the Traveler's Ten techniques. Straight after that, Aoi showed him the first combat technique he would learn- Wind Release: Breakthrough, which created a powerful gust of cutting wind in a straight line.

That, however, was the last technique Aoi openly taught Naruto. It was common practice throughout the shinobi villages for jounin-sensei to teach their students the common basics- the Essential Eight and the Traveler's Ten- and perhaps one more technique, then to stop actively teaching techniques.

The reason was quite simple- it was test. Instead of being taught the genin would have to put their newly acquired skills to the test, spying on other shinobi, observing their techniques, then attempting to replicate them. To do so successfully they would need adequate stealth and intelligence-gathering skills, as well as good chakra control and a realistic sense of their own skill in order to judge whether or not a certain technique they'd seen was beyond ability. Therefore, the size of a genin's arsenal of techniques was usually a good measure of their skill.

So Naruto, seeing that Aoi was apparently unwilling to teach him anything more, began observing the sparring sessions that began to occur frequently among Aoi and his former pupils. Aoi had in fact instigated the sessions with a view to this- he instructed Iruka, Idate and Hana to use a wide variety of techniques, giving Naruto the challenge of picking out the D-rank ones that he could actually perform. As soon as Naruto managed to make the technique he was trying to copy work, Aoi would step in and help him master it.

When Ebisu returned at the end of the third year of Naruto's training, Aoi drew him aside and told him exactly what he had and hadn't taught him. After having Naruto demonstrate the remaining eight techniques of the Traveler's Ten and the leaf-based elemental exercises, Ebisu asked Naruto to perform all of the other techniques he knew- then stood back and watched as the boy performed, one after the other, Wind Release: Breakthrough, Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique, Fire Release: Fireball Technique and Earth Release: Snare. Ebisu, just as grudgingly as before, judged that Naruto was roughly halfway between what was expected of a rookie genin and an average genin.

At the resume of training, the sparring sessions began again- only this time the four were more alert and whenever they realized Naruto was watching him they made sure to chase him off- this only happened a few times, since Naruto was stealthy to begin with an a quick learner besides. In the meantime he practiced more advanced elemental control exercises- dispersing his chakra into water or fire, into the air or the earth or sitting atop one of the village's power transformers and releasing lightning chakra into the power lines- sensing the flow of chakra and the patterns it made all the while. This continued for eleven months, Naruto scrounging techniques all the while, and the elemental exercises advanced to Naruto not just sensing the patterns his chakra made but manipulating them- and, by proxy, whatever he had infused his chakra into.

Then, a month before the genin exam Touji Mizuki, a chuunin instructor at the Academy, stole the Hokage's kinjutsu scroll.

The errant chuunin unluckily happened to stumble across Aoi and Naruto's training ground as he was attempting to flee the village with his ill-gotten gains. Recognizing the pilfered scroll slung across his back, Aoi immediately attacked him, with Naruto and the three chuunin moving to assist. Mizuki, however, was an exceptional example of a chuunin. He managed to give Iruka and Idate the slip in the running battle that followed- Aoi, however was not so easily fooled and neither was Hana, courtesy of the famous Inuzuka nose. They managed to part Mizuki from the scroll, but not prevent him escaping Konoha and becoming a missing-nin.

The most immediately significant event of the pursuit, though, was Naruto stumbling across the kinjutsu scroll where it had come to rest, opening it, and reading the first technique before Aoi found him. So it was that Naruto learned the Shadow Clone Technique.

Aoi, taking a pragmatic view of the situation, applauded Naruto's sense of opportunism and, seeing as Naruto had managed to make the jounin-level technique work on his first try, returned the scroll to the Hokage before helping Naruto to master the shadow clone. By the time the genin exams rolled around a month later, he had not only done that but was starting to work on ways to put the tangible, intelligent clones to effective use, as well as ways to combine them with his other techniques, of which he had an impressive array.

He aced the genin exam- there was no other way to put it. Even with the instructors trying to fail him at every turn, even ranged against the moody, stuck-up Uchiha who'd received all the help and support in the world from his equally moody and stuck-up family, he still came out top of the class. When he'd been crowned Rookie of the Year, the brat had glared at him as if it were a crime, just to dare to be better than him.

The technique test was the best of all. Seeing the instructor's eyes bulge with surprise and barely-hidden rage as he performed the technique asked of him just as Aoi had taught him to- seallessly, smokelessly, and within a second of the heavyset chuunin's instruction. The room had been filled from the window to the wall with ordinary clones. The man had pronounced it a perfect clone technique, albeit with resentful anger in his voice as he did so.

'Naruto! Hey Naruto, wait up!'

Inuzuka Kiba was running to catch up with him, his nin-dog and companion Akamaru racing along at his heels to keep up. Naruto had met Kiba partially because of Hana, who was his older sister, partially because the new place he had moved into- his old apartment having been gutted by fire- had been just next to the Inuzuka compound. The first time the two boys met they had clashed violently, and a massive chase all over Konoha had ensued. After that and a couple of other initial hiccups- both were incredibly hard-headed- they'd been fast friends, Naruto sharing the sense of loyalty that typified the Inuzuka.

Naruto stopped to let Kiba catch up.

'I was worried you were going to be late and miss the team assignments.'

Kiba let out a short, bark-like laugh.

'Not for the world! At least we both know we're going to be on the same team. They can't not put us together!'

But, unbeknownst to Naruto and Kiba, that was precisely what 'they' were planning to do. The academy instructor who'd taught this year's graduates, Funeno Daikoku, had met with that year's three jounin-sensei- Rokushou Aoi, Hatake Kakashi & Sarutobi Asuma- and the Hokage to work out the teams.

The Hokage puffed on his pipe thoughtfully.

'Well, we already know that Uzumaki Naruto has been reserved by Aoi- and I think it's a given that Inuzuka Kiba will be on that team too. The two get along so well already, I can see them developing some powerful teamwork.'

'With respect, Hokage-sama, I disagree. I'd like Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura to be on my team along with Naruto.'

That raised eyebrows all around the room.

'The best kunoichi in the graduating class, and the worst. Aoi, of the entire group those two are actually the weakest. The Yamanaka family jutsu are by their very nature limited- at genin level, at least- while Sakura has no basis of family techniques at all, the Haruno being a civilian family. I'd say they're the ones least likely to end up as career shinobi.'

'And that's precisely why I want them.'

The Hokage removed his pipe from his mouth and arched an eyebrow in query. 'Explain.'

'It's simple. Firstly, if being around myself and Naruto doesn't turn them serious, then nothing will.'

This drew nods of agreement from the Hokage and the other jounin- Aoi being committed was one thing, but Naruto showed a determination and commitment to being a Konoha shinobi that was very rarely seen in genin. Aoi was clearly hoping that those qualities would rub off on pair of silly kunoichi.

'Secondly, their lack of techniques is an advantage from where I'm standing- they're both pretty much blank slates.'

'And what do you intend to write on these 'blank slates', as you call them?'

'I intend to create a generalist team. Naruto's already fitting the profile for a ninjutsu powerhouse nicely- he's got Kage-level chakra reserves, above average control, and a technique arsenal that a chuunin would be proud of- almost all of which he scrounged, by the way. As for the other two, I think having Ino be the team's genjutsu specialist would go well with her family's mind abilities. Sakura's chakra control is the best of the three, so I'm planning to have her trained as a medic.'

'So that leaves the Uchiha, the Inuzuka, the Hyuuga, the Aburame, the Akimichi and the Nara. I trust you'll be wanting to train Sasuke, Kakashi?'

The lazy jounin's eye curved downwards in a way that everybody recognized as a smile. 'Of course. I'm the ideal teacher for Sasuke.'

'Yes, just as long as you remember that there are three genin on your team, not just one.'

Kakashi kept smiling as he turned to regard Aoi. 'It depends who those teammates are. Some of the genin are from clans that really only ever need their family jutsu.'

Aoi ignore the last comment, since it was just a sign that Kakashi was his usual lazy self.

'I would recommend Kiba and Hinata. The Uchiha will make a good ninjutsu specialist, and if you add his taijutsu to that he'll be able to support his teammates effectively. The Inuzuka and the Hyuuga balance each other out- both are strong taijutsu specialists, but whereas the Inuzuka techniques allow them to attack more than one opponent, albeit in a rather imprecise manner, the Hyuuga style is better suited to taking on a single opponent in a more precise fashion.'

'So that leaves Shino, Chouji and Shikamaru for me. I was hoping for the Yamanaka instead- make another Ino-Shika-Cho trio.'

'Why not try a different combination? While the Nara and Akimichi techniques are as easy to dodge as they are dangerous, the Aburame kikaichuu are very difficult to evade. Again, it'd strike a nice balance.'

Asuma sighed. 'Okay, okay- you've got me convinced, Aoi. I just wish you wouldn't always be right, that's all.'

The Hokage cleared his throat. 'Is there anything else that needs to be discussed?'

When there was no respond but a general shaking of heads, he gave a satisfied nod. 'Fine, then. The three genin teams for this year will be as follows. Kakashi takes Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba as Team 7. Asuma takes Aburame Shino, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru as Team 8. And, Aoi takes Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura and Team 9.'

The nine genin who passed the exam were set in their Academy classroom. Naruot was in the second row back, with Kiba on one side of him and Shino- who he knew because the Inuzuka and Aburame compounds were next to each other- on the other. Ino and Sakura were in front of them, either side of the Uchiha. He didn't have to look round to see that Chouji, Hinata and Shikamaru were in the row behind them, or that Shikamaru was asleep.

The chuunin who taught the class walked into the room, a piece of paper in his hand. It didn't even take a second for Naruto to put a name to the broad, barrel-chested man- Funeno Daikoku.

'Alright, let's get this over with as quickly as possible. Team Seven- Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba. Team Eight- Aburame Shino, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru. Team Nine- Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura. Team Nine, wait here for your sensei. The rest of you, follow me.'

Daikoku walked out the door, and the other two teams filed out after him, leaving Naruto alone with the two kunoichi.

Naruto slowly got up and walked over to the aisle, then down to take a seat in the front row- although carefully sitting across the aisle from Ino. The pair were, naturally, curious about their new teammate- he had not, after all, appeared in class until the day of the Genin exam. It was Ino who broke the silence.

'You're Uzumaki Naruto?'

'Yes.'

'You didn't attend the Academy, did you?'

'No, I didn't.'

'Why not?'

Naruto, who until this point had been looking at his hands, turned a level stare upon them.

'My application was rejected.'

Ino stared- Sakura too. It was all but unheard off for an Academy application to be rejected out of hand. Most who were unfit to be shinobi were either weeded out by the end of year exams or dropped out in mid-year. Ino refrained from casting the obvious aspersion against the boy's abilities- Sakura wasn't so circumspect.

'You must be really rubbish then, to have your application rejected. It makes me wonder how you ever managed to cheat Sasuke-kun out of being Rookie of the Year.'

Naruto's face didn't even flicker, but remained impassive.

'I was undergoing an- accelerated- program of study. Sasuke's potential is probably vaguely similar to mine- it's just I've gone further towards turning my potential into actual skill.'

'Why were you chosen when you didn't even get into the Academy? If anybody deserves something like that, it's Sasuke-kun!'

'I wasn't chosen despite being rejected by the Academy, I was chosen because I was rejected by the Academy. I was tested by a jounin shortly after that, and they found I had chakra reserves much larger than average. It was decided that if I were to enter the Academy, what I would be taught there wouldn't develop my chakra control properly- the bigger your reserves are, the more difficult it is to develop good control. Thanks to the program, my chakra control is every bit as good as yours- maybe even better.'

In the awkward silence that followed this pronouncement, the door slid open and a man wearing the standard uniform of Konoha shinobi stepped in- except the jumpsuit under the green tactical vest was black instead of navy. Dark green hair spilled over the band of his hitai-ite and framed pale lavender eyes.

'Are you Team Nine?'

Ino and Sakura looked at him curiously- Naruto just had a smile on his face. 'Yes.'

'I'm your jounin-sensei, Rokushou Aoi.'

* * *

Another AN: Before anybody says anything about pairings, I'll say now that it's already been decided on. The only other thing I'm going to say is that it isn't Ino or Sakura.


	2. Chapter 2 Aoi's Test

AN- I don't own Naruto.

* * *

CHAPTER 2- AOI'S TEST

Aoi walked over to stand in front of the teacher's desk, then sat down on it.

'You- Ino, is it? Why don't you budge up to make room for Naruto? You're supposed to be teammates after all.'

Ino moved to sit in the middle seat, next to Sakura, and Naruto took her vacated place. Sakura raised her hand.

'Sensei, how do you know Naruto?'

Aoi fixed her with an appraising look.

'You're a sharp one. I know who both of you were because I read your files- read everyone's files in fact- before I picked my team. But Naruto I know because I've been training him for the last four years. I trust he's explained why?'

Ino nodded her head. 'Yes, he has.'

'Excellent. So, let's get on with the introductions, shall we? I'm Rokushou Aoi. I like many things, and dislike many. My dreams- I don't really want to share those right now. You next, Ino.'

'I'm Yamanaka Ino. I like flower arranging and dislike people who think a girl can't be a good shinobi. My dream is to master all of the Yamanaka clan techniques and to prove that spying isn't all a Yamanaka is good for.'

Aoi pointed at Sakura. 'Your turn.'

'I'm Haruno Sakura. I like Sasuke-kun, and my dream- well…'

She trailed off, blushing furiously.

'Is there anything you dislike?'

The reply was immediate and forceful. 'Naruto.'

One green eyebrow quirked upwards. 'Oh? I'd have thought you'd be happy to have the strongest shinobi in the year on your team.'

Sakura couldn't help herself- she scoffed. 'Him? I'm sorry, you must have gotten his file mixed up with Sasuke-kun's.'

'The Uchiha? He's got potential certainly- but he's hardly even begun to realize it, not having activated his Sharingan yet. Besides, he suffers from a common side-effect of the Sharingan- laziness.'

'Laziness?'

'Laziness. He doesn't train & learn techniques now because he thinks he can just wait for his Sharingan to activate and then catch up with everyone else by copying ever technique he sees. Sorry to say, but overall he fits the profile of a shinobi who's likely to become a missing-nin.'

'Don't say that! You don't know-'

'Haven't you been listening? I've read the boy's file. Some people see a budding young genius of Konoha- I see a potential security risk. But, enough of that. You still haven't introduced yourself, Naruto.'

Naruto obliged. 'I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and training to learn new techniques. I dislike all the people who dislike me for stupid reasons. My dream is to become Hokage.'

'Interesting combination really, the three of you. Well, I need to see if you have what it takes to be active genin or not. Meet me at Training Ground Nineteen.'

He then vanished in a puff of white smoke. Naruto, realizing what he'd done, threw back his head and laughed. Sakura scowled.

'What's so funny, baka?'

Naruto, still grinning, stood up and made for the door.

'You have to admire Aoi-sensei's style- it was a shadow clone. The real Aoi's probably already there waiting for us.'

'Don't be stupid! A clone could never do all the things Aoi just did!'

'I said a shadow clone, not a clone. There's a difference- shadow clones are actually solid, and intelligent if you perform the technique right. But, we've got somewhere to be so if you'll excuse me?'

He promptly vanished, leaving behind a swirl of wind-blown leaves.

Naruto and Aoi were already at the training ground waiting when Ino & Sakura got there, both puffing and blowing. Aoi cast a jaundiced eye over them.

'I'll give you a couple of minutes to get your breath back. Then we'll start.'

'Start what, Aoi-sensei?'

'A test to see whether you're good enough to be genin or not.'

'But we already passed the genin exam!'

'You did. But, it's customary for individual jounin-sensei to administer their own tests to genin teams to make sure they're up to standard. If you fail, you go back to the Academy for another year.'

Both girls looked like they were about to protest, so Naruto quickly asked the obvious question before they could.

'What do we have to do?'

'You see that forest?'

It was hard not to- the forest in question took up at least half the training ground, if not more.

'Somewhere in that forest is a clearing with a house in the middle of it. You need to enter that house, kill your target- which will be a transformed clone of mine- and then retrieve the marked package, and bring it back to this location. The person who brings the package back automatically passes- the other two may or may not pass based on their performance. That is all.'

With that he disappeared, a swirl of leaves betraying his use of the Body Flicker Technique.

Naruto had removed his hitai-ite in order to tide a black cloth over his head, hiding his blonde hair, and was in the process of retying his headband.

'Alright. This is what we do.'

He didn't get further than that before Sakura exploded. 'Who made you the leader, baka?'

'No-one did. But, we need to work together to pull this off. If I know Aoi-sensei, it'll have been set up so one person working alone won't be able to do it.'

'Speak for yourself. I don't need your help.'

With that, Sakura turned and took off into the forest. Ino looked at Naruto.

'What should we do?'

The latter slipped his fingers into the neck of his tunic and pulled upwards, the cloth extending out to form a facemask that came to just below his eyes and ears.

'We go after here. I can outpace her easily- I'm not having her charging in headlong and messing us all up just because she doesn't particularly like me. Come on.'

He streaked off in the direction Sakura had gone. After a moment's hesitation, Ino followed him.

Naruto almost immediately took to the trees, using chakra to leap from branch to branch. He had overhauled the slower Sakura in next to no time at all, and dropped to the ground right in her path, making her pull up short.

'You're asking for it, baka! Don't say I didn't warn you!'

Naruto twisted to the side, avoiding the punch she threw at him, and dropped straight into a spinning footsweep that left her sprawled on the ground. She tried to get up, but as her eyes met his her body seemed to freeze up, and she heard Naruto mutter the words

'Temporary Paralysis Technique.'

As Ino caught up, Naruto explained to Sakura what he'd done.

'This technique binds you in place as long as I have chakra to maintain it with- and with my reserves, I can hold you here for hours. I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you go until you see some sense. Running in headlong to try and take on everything a jounin can throw at you is a sure-fire way to fail- and it not only screws you up, it also screws us, your teammates, up too.'

Sakura found the force binding her jaw relaxing so that she could speak.

'Fine. What do you want?'

'I want you to hear me out. We're going to plan this properly and achieve the objectives Aoi-sensei set us. First step- reconnaissance.'

Naruto removed one of his scrolls from its holder and unrolled it on the ground. Biting his thumb and drawing a line across his palm with the blood, he charged his hand with chakra and slammed it into the scroll. A brown hawk with the kanji for 'speed' marked on the message scroll harness on it's back appeared in a puff of smoke. Almost immediately it fluttered up to setting on Naruto's shoulder.

'What do you need me to do?'

While Ino & Sakura gaped at the talking bird, Naruto was already giving it instructions.

'Fly up high and look around. Somewhere in those woods is a clearing with a house in the middle of it- Aoi-sensei will be there. I need to know what direction it's in and how far away it is- and what he's doing in order to defend the clearing.

The hawk nodded once and launched itself into the air, swiftly receding to become a small speck before flying away over the trees.

'Er- Naruto? What was that? And, do you think you could let Sakura get up now?'

'Oh, yeah- sorry, Sakura.'

Sakura found herself able to move again, and she stood up, dusting herself off from the fall she had taken.

'That was a personal summon stored in one of my scrolls. He's meant to be a messenger, but his eyes are sharp enough for to make him good for recon as well.'

'But- he talked.'

Naruto smiled under his mask. 'Summons do that- they're not ordinary animals. Most of them are trained in ninjutsu to some degree as well, although this particular one isn't.'

'What do we do now?'

'We wait for him to come back and give his report. I'm not going in blind if I can help it.'

The silence that followed his words was an uneasy one. It was plain to both girls that Naruto was dead serious as a shinobi, and good at it to boot. He'd pulled off that paralysis technique without a single hand seal, or even an outward sign that he was doing it at all. What kind of chakra control did that take? Also, he decided to scout out the objective and actually plan out what they were going to do, like a proper shinobi- a chuunin or a jounin- would. One thing was clear- he was miles ahead of both of them.

It seemed an age before the hawk returned. All three genin scanned the forest around them continually- Naruto had warned them that Aoi might attempt a pre-emptive attack. At last, a black dot hove into view in the sky overhead, then, descending, resolved itself into their spy, which immediately flew into to land on Naruto's shoulder and, without delaying, made it's report.

'At your best speed, it will take you five to ten minutes to get to the clearing, Naruto. In the middle of the clearing is a two-story house with a walled compound surrounding it. I did not see Aoi-san, but Idate-niisan, Iruka-niisan and Hana-neechan were patrolling the clearing outside the walls.'

Naruto muttered what sounded like a curse under his breath.

'The question is- are they just clones of Aoi, in which case he's trying to make us waste time by being too careful- or is it really them? If it is, we've got our work cut out for us.

The hawk, it's job done, dispersed in a cloud of smoke. Ino stood up.

'Who are they, Naruto?'

'Aoi-sensei's last genin team. They're all chuunin now.'

'A jounin and three chuunin- how do we possibly stand a chance of passing this test?'

Naruto scowled at Sakura.

'We don't need to beat them, we just need to get past them and inside the compound.'

He licked his index finger and held it up in the air, testing the wind.

'Only a light breeze, but that's enough. Instead of going straight there, we're going to take a diversion so that we approach the clearing from downwind.'

Sakura regained her characteristic scowl- well, characteristic when she was around Naruto, anyway.

'I swear, if you're just doing this to make us sweat needlessly…'

'I'm not. Hana-neechan's an Inuzuka.'

He said this as if it explained everything.

'That blockhead Kiba's an Inuzuka as well. So what?'

'He's stubborn and loud, but he's a good, loyal friend. I'll thank you not to insult him. Anyway, among the clan abilities of the Inuzuka is their chakra-enhanced sense of smell- it we approach them from upwind, Hana-neechan will pick us up easily- we may as well hold up a big sign saying 'here we are, come and get us.''

Ino spoke up, trying to defuse the situation and prevent a quarrel, since Sakura was looking daggers at Naruto, and Naruto himself was starting to look annoyed again.

'What can each of them do? From what I know about the Inuzuka, Hana's probably the best at taijutsu, and we'll have to watch out for her companion nin-dog…'

'Companion nin-dogs- she's got three of them. The Haimaru Sankyoudai.'

'So, that's Hana. What about the others?'

'No, that's not all. She's a medic-nin who combines Inuzuka techniques with chakra scalpels in a fight, and also has a fire affinity- although none of her fire techniques are higher than C-rank. She's a formidable fighter, make no mistake.'

'What about the others- what were there names? Idate? Iruka?'

'Idate-niisan is a decent taijutsu fighter- he uses weights to enhance his strength and gets a whole lot quicker when he releases them. Primarily, though, he's a ninjutsu specialist who doesn't favor any one element- although he only knows a single C-rank technique from each. Iruka-niisan is a strategist, and he also specializes in traps- you can bet he'll have laced the edge of the clearing with explosive tags, wires, and a whole lot of other general nastiness. And then, of course, there's Aoi himself.'

Ino could've kicked herself- she'd actually forgotten for a second that their jounin-sensei would be opposing them as well.

'He's mastered three elements- water, wind and lightning. Since he's a jounin, he's also capable in taijutsu and genjutsu. Finally, he's competent in fuuinjutsu and likes to use the Puppetry Technique.'

Into the silence which fell as the girls digested this Naruto added-

'He could take on all three of us together and win. Easily.'

'So, what's your plan?'

Naruto gave Ino a smile. It was encouraging, seeing that she wasn't disheartened by the strength of the opposing force, and instead focusing on what they were going to do to achieve their objectives.

'Approach the clearing from downwind and figure out the patrol patterns of the three on the outside. We'll have to take care of Iruka-nii-san's traps as well. Anything beyond that- well, I can't really make any plans until I've actually had a look at the target myself.'

He stood up, and started to walk off, going to the left of the way the hawk had indicated.

'Well, come on. Let's go.'

Naruto was crouched in the shadow of a tree about ten paces back from the edge of the clearing, carefully staying beyond the exploding seal barriers Iruka had set up- he could feel the chakra used to create the seal formations in front of him. A handily placed bush hid him from the sight of anybody scanning the forest from the clearing or house.

The array of traps in front of him- primarily Exploding Seal Barrier Formations, which were triggered when someone walked through them and so could be set and then forgotten, support by less advanced Exploding Seal Method Formations- arrays of tags primed for detonation using a technique so that they would explode on Iruka's command. With the distraction of these seal arrays, though, it would be easy to miss the network of wires threading through the grass and undergrowth, too low to the ground to trip anyone- these, Naruto knew, would be used for Iruka's dangerous Dragon Web or Celestial Web techniques.

The layer of traps behind him- beyond which Sakura and Ino waited- was more simple, consisting of tripwire-triggered traps- explosive tags and deadfalls, mostly. Naruto was tempted to disable them, but had decided not to take the risk- Iruka might well check his traps and find several out of commission. No, he'd have to guide the girls through the snares instead. He'd been crouched there for ten minutes, watching the three patrolling chuunin. They all walked the same circular path, spaced out equally, moving at the same pace and reversing direction every five circuits.

Naruto carefully stepped through the tripwires of the first layer and black to his teammates, wasting no time in outlining what he had observed to them.

'I don't think there's any way around the arrays. It takes more knowledge of seals to disarm the Exploding Seal Barriers than I've got. Dealing with the tags is doable, it'd just take time to disarm each tag individually. Besides, if I know Iruka-niisan, he'll be checking his traps regularly- no, disarming them isn't an option.'

'What are we supposed to do, then? Blunder through and just get blown up?'

Naruto turned a calm face upon Sakura, seemingly unaffected by the scathing tone in her voice.

'Of course not. That's what shadow clones are for.'

'Announcing to all of them where we're coming in?'

'No, I'm going to use a clone to trip a seal array here, then as soon as they've responded to that, have a second clone do the same on the opposite side of the clearing. Once they've dashed off to see whether it was actually us or not, we slip through the original gap. But first, we all need to get to the space between the layers. Watch carefully where I put my feet- that's the safe route.'

Ino and Sakura managed to get through the series of snares without touching any of the tripwires. Once they were through, Naruto created three shadow clones. One hid with him behind the same bush, the other two began the trek round to the other side of the clearing. Eventually, one of the two dispersed itself and everything it'd seen and done since it's creation flooded into his mind.

'They're in position.'

Sakura, predictably, scowled.

'And you're psychic, are you?'

'No- when the clones disperse, I get their memories of everything they did since they were created.'

The clone next to Naruto stepped out from behind the tree and walked forward into the middle of a seal array.

'Take cover!'

The four tags that made up the array detonated, dispersing the clone and bringing the nearest two patrollers, Idate & Iruka, running.

'No sight of them- must've been a shadow clone.'

'Maybe, but I'm taking no chances. I'll check the area, you start resetting the seal array.'

At that moment, a second explosion echoed across the clearing from the other side as the second decoy walked into one of Iruka's tag arrays. The trapmaster himself was pulling explosive tags from his equipment pouch.

'Go, Idate! I'll sort this out and follow you- there's no guarantee that, between the three of them, they won't be able to bring Hana down!'

Idate sprinted off around the compound, leaving Iruka carefully attaching his four tags to trees. As he was fixing the last one, Naruto struck.

'Earth Release: Snare!'

The ground around the surprised chuunin's feet softened, and even as he sank into it up to his ankles it was already rising up to ensnare his shins. Naruto appeared suddenly in front of him, and Iruka twisted away, avoiding the eye contact that would let Naruto paralyze him- and ended up looking straight into a pair of sapphire-blue eyes.

'Temporary Paralysis Technique.'

As Iruka's body seized up, he realized that Naruto has played on his knowledge that he liked the Paralysis technique- and neatly set him up to be snared by that very same technique.

'Mind-Body Switch Technique!'

Sakura caught Ino as she went limp, her spirit having been sent forth to take over the body of the helpless chuunin in front of them. Naruto lifted the paralysis and canceled the earth snare, and Iruka- with Ino controlling his body- shook his head to clear it.

'Agh, this always feels weird. Nice catch, Naruto.'

'You're welcome. Now come on- let's get him restrained. Sakura, stay here and hide- you won't be able to get back through the traps carrying Ino.'

Well back from the treeline, with Iruka stood against a very solid tree, Naruto bound him with wire, gagged him securely, and then snapped a pair of chakra cuffs on his wrists to make sure he couldn't use even the most basic techniques.

'Alright Ino, you need to get out now- I can't activate these until you're gone.'

As Ino's spirit left Iruka's body in a rush of blue, Naruto focused chakra into the seal arrays on the cuffs, waiting for the momentary draining feeling that'd tell him they'd activated. It came just as Iruka opened his eyes.

'Sorry about this, Iruka-niisan, but we had to- I'm sure you understand.'

The chuunin nodded, trying to smile around his gag, and Naruto disappeared off into the forest to rejoin his team.

Ino was shaking her head again to clear it, but was climbing to her feet as Naruto approached.

'That's one down- what next?'

'The patrol's will have just reversed, so we go into the clearing and around the compound counter-clockwise. We go for Idate-niisan first, so that way Hana has to walk two-thirds of the way around before she stumbles on us. We've got to have Idate down and out of it by then. Let's move.'

The three moved through the gap in the array of tag traps and then ran right, towards the corner of the compound wall, turned the corner, ran straight along the wall to the next corner- then piled to a halt as Naruto raised a hand to stop them and peered around the corner. He raised his thumb- all clear.

At the next corner, they caught up with Idate- Naruto jumped out from around the corner, formed hand seals, and with a shout of 'Fire Release: Immortal Phoenix Flower Technique!' blew five small fireballs from his mouth at the chuunin. Idate shed his leg and arm weights, dodging the flaming projectiles, then streaked towards the genin, moving much faster now that he was unimpeded. Naruto formed a familiar cross seal with his hands.

'Shadow Clone Technique!'

Twenty Narutos leapt towards Idate, and the fight was on.

Despite Idate's greater speed, strength & skill, Naruto was managing to keep up with him- with the help of a mixed formation of shadow & mist clones- the mist clone technique proved a useful supplement to the shadow clone- as well as fighting with a length of chakra-infused wire in one hand. Sakura and Ino, neither of them tremendously good at taijutsu, were standing back and sending clone after clone into the mix. Idate was now ignoring the insubstantial replications- and that was his downfall.

Ino, instead of sending a newly conjured replication in to attack, had in stay in place while she herself joined the fight. The result was Idate taking a fist to the side of the jaw that snapped his head back- Naruto saw his chance, and before the black-haired teen could dodge he was neatly trussed up in Naruto's wire. Ino invaded his body with the Mind-Body Switch before he could begin to focus the chakra needed for the Rope Escape Technique. Sakura, seeing Ino's hand seal, was at the girl's side to catch her vacant body as it fell.

They managed to get Idate out of the clearing and securely restrained before Hana came across them. Naruto made a pair of shadow clones that tripped the tag traps to give them a path out, and by the time Hana arrived at the scene Idate was gagged, chakra-cuffed, and bound to a tree- and, the three genin were bearing down on her. The Inuzuka smiled a feral smile as her nin-dog companions scattered clear.

'A fight it is then! Beast Mimicry: Four Legs Technique!'

Hana's muscles bulged, her fingernails lengthening and transforming into sharp claws, her clan's secret technique turning the harmless-looking medic-nin into a veritable fighting machine. Naruto make a horde of shadow clones, this time deliberately creating a large cloud of white smoke as he did so- he'd mastered the technique so that it'd usually be less noticeable. When the smoke cleared, third of his clones had taken the form of Sakura, and another third looked like Ino. A full two-thirds of them were mist clones- Naruto had learned to perform that particular technique (all of his D-rank techniques, in fact) seallessly.

A few minutes later Inuzuka Hana flipped back to her feet, her feral smile having gotten even broader and more feral. That Ino kid had neatly suckered her- the two girls had been staying on the edge of the fight sending in clones individually. She'd torn through them just as she did with Naruto's clones- until the blond-haired girl she'd lunged towards formed hand seals and performed a Body Switch- taking a leaf out of Naruto's book, clearly. Ignoring the clone she'd left behind was her mistake. In actual fact one of Naruto's shadow clones- transformed into Ino- had switched itself with the girl to neatly blindside Hana, and it had worked. The Inuzuka girl started focusing chakra as her Haimaru Sankyoudai rushed to her side.

'Don't count me out yet, brats- it's only just starting. Beast Clone Technique!'

And suddenly, where before there had been stood one Hana and three grey dogs, there were now just four identical Hanas.

'Okay, she just kicked it up a notch. At least now if she uses her chakra scalpels we'll know which one is her. Sakura, Ino, I want you both to back way off and just support with whatever you've got.'

'Who do you…'

Ino clamped a hand over Sakura's mouth.

'We've got it, Naruto.'

She then dragged Sakura away to what she reckoned was a safe distance, leaving Naruto and Hana facing each other. Hana tossed a pair of smoke bombs at Naruto's feet, and then leapt into the air followed by her clones. With a cry of 'Fang over Fang!' four clawed whirlwinds were shooting toward the cloud of smoke surrounding Naruto.

'Wind Release: Gale Wind Palm!'

A powerful gust of wind neatly blew the smoke cloud away. As the first whirlwind of claws hit Naruto it simply passed straight through him- a mist clone.

'Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique.'

The Hidden Mist technique lived up to it's name- neither Sakura nor Ino could see Naruto, Hana, or her clones anymore due to the thick mist that the technique conjured up.

'That's earth, wind, water and fire techniques he's showed so far. I can see what Aoi-sensei meant- I don't think there's anyone else in our class who can use that many elements.'

'Bah, it's not that impressive, Ino-pig. Sasuke-kun can do much better.'

'Isn't it? Sasuke is, after all, the only other one in the class who can use elements, and he's just got his fire techniques. Naruto can use fire and three more.'

'Sasuke-kun's Great Fireball is better than anything Naruto can do, Ino-pig! The only reason the baka could learn those techniques is that they're weak!'

'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!'

As if to spite Sakura, Naruto's voice echoed through the mist and a huge fireball immediately blossomed. Hana immediately answered.

'Fire Release: Blazing Wheel Technique!'

A shockwave of flame shot out of the mist, sending the two kunoichi jumping backwards. A second later, Naruto landed on the ground in front of them having jumped to avoid it. He was already flashing through a series of hand seals.

'Lightning Release: Thunderlance!'

Ino watched wide-eyed as a line of lightning shot from Naruto's outstretched hand into the mist, producing a yelp of pained surprise as the mist conducting the electrical current, catching all of the Hanas in the blast.'

'Fire Release: Mist Waltz Technique!'

It was Naruto's turn to go wide-eyed and jump backwards, grabbing the two kunoichi and taking them with him and more mist appeared. Two Hanas jumped backwards out of it, both carrying limp grey forms.

'Fire Release: Immortal Phoenix Flower Technique!'

One Hana blew a stream of small fireballs at the mist cloud she'd created, which exploded with a dull roar. The three genin all landed sprawling- Naruto was the first to find his feet, only to see one Hana revert back to it's grey husky form and start gently licking it's fallen siblings. The real Hana stood between them and him, chakra scalpels glowing on her palms. Naruto formed six quick hand seals before she could charge him, then took a second to focus chakra.

'Fire Release: Oil Clone Technique!'

A thick ring of Naruto clones formed around Hana. Unbeknownst to her, it wasn't the Oil Clone Technique at all- that was an A-rank technique that Naruto knew of but couldn't perform. Instead, he'd performed a D-rank genjutsu, the Mist Servant Technique. This technique created illusory, intangible clones that dispersed into black goop when struck, only to swiftly reform.

Hana blinked- she had no idea he could use that advanced clone technique. It formed clones out of black oil that would scatter when struck firmly, only to reform in a couple of seconds in the same way that the illusory clones of the mist servant technique. The worst of it, for Hana at least, was that the oil that made up the clones would burn explosively when exposed to flame. A mud-based earth technique was the only way of stopping them, and Hana didn't have any of those among her arsenal. She sighed as she realized Naruto had worked her into a corner she couldn't get out of.

'Alright, gaki- I give up. You've got me.'

To Naruto it wasn't hard to see that Hana was serious- a ninja was supposed to be able to judge such things, after all.

'Okay, Hana-neechan- stand completely still or the clones attack. Ino, you know what to do.'

Ino, indeed, did.

'Mind-Body Switch Technique!'

Hana, knowing (or rather believing) it was pointless to resist, stayed still and allowed Ino to take over her body. After that it was a simple matter of taking the possessed Inuzuka out into the forest and securely restraining her exactly the way they did with the other two.

The compound wall was not a finely constructed thing- it looked like a slab of solid rock that hand just been thrust up out of the earth. Naruto recognized it for what it was- created by the Earth Release: Earth Wall technique. And that meant…

'Aoi's not the only one in that house.'

Ino gave him a surprised look.

'How can you tell that?'

'That wall was created using a B-rank earth technique. Neither Aoi nor the other three have mastered the element to that degree- therefore, there's at least one other person with him. And if they can create something like this, they're either a skilled chuunin or a low-rank jounin. I don't think we can sneak in- we need a diversion in force.'

'But how? There's only three of us.'

Naruto sighed and formed the familiar cross seal, making twenty-five shadow clones appear behind him.

'I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Ino- the one-man army.'

The clones ran off around to the other side of the compound, followed by three more that Naruto created as an afterthought- two of them transformed to look like Ino and Sakura. At the same time, Naruto walked up to the wall, withdrew a rolled piece of paper from his equipment pouch and unfurled it to reveal an enormous explosive tag that he then attached to the wall using chakra.

The tag in question was a handspan wide and two long, with not one but two seal circles for chakra storage, and an array of zodiacal symbols inscribed on it all the way around the edge. This was _not_ something you ever wanted to go off by accident. Ino stared at it, wide-eyed.

'What in the name of Kami-sama is that?'

'An Uzumaki Special- a demolition tag that I designed and created myself. Now, get all the way back to the treeline, quickly.'

Neither girl needed telling twice. Naruto placed both hands against the tag, forcing chakra into the seals written on its surface to arm it. As soon as it began to hiss and sputter, he immediately Body Flickered to the edge of the clearing and pulled Ino & Sakura flat- just as the tag exploded.

The rock wall it had been stuck to shattered like a pane of glass under the force of the blast. Shrapnel & large chunks of stone peppered the house, making Aoi, his clone that was the mark and his two companions hit the deck. At the same time, the twenty-five clones on the other side of the clearing all aimed Thunderlance techniques at the wall, the streams of lightning slicing through the stone like hot knives through butter.

Naruto didn't let up now that he had started. Pulling a scroll from one of the pouches on his left leg, he unrolled it, bit his thumb, and, running forward to the breach in the wall, drew a line of his own blood down the center of the scroll then swung it through the air horizontally, smacking his hands into it and unsealing the contents as the side of the scroll inscribed with seals was facing towards the house. A hailstorm of shuriken, kunai and senbon exploded out of the scroll. It was specially designed so that when whatever was sealed inside was released, it would be hurled out forcefully. Under the cover of this, Naruto created a small horde of shadow clones- around a hundred, at a hasty count.

'Sakura, Ino- transform to look like me, now!'

Under the cover of the smoke cloud created by the Shadow Clone technique, the girls transformed. A second later, three men wearing the uniforms of Konoha shinobi came barreling out of the house like bats out of hell- Aoi in the lead, with two others who Naruto immediately recognized.

'The short-haired one's Sarugaku Tsuzumi- he's a chuunin who was on the same genin team as Aoi-sensei. The other's Hijiri Shimon, an elite chuunin. He probably created the wall.'

Aoi started by creating nine shadow clones, and the defenders split into two- Tsuzumi and five clones staying to take care of the army that Naruto had just conjured up, while Shimon and the other five went around to the other side of the compound where Team 9 seemingly were. The question foremost on Naruto's mind was, where was the real Aoi? Motioning to the others to follow him, he moved forward with the clones as they encircled the defenders on their side. As Tsuzumi and the five Aois threw themselves into the fight with a will, Naruto, Ino & Sakura worked their way around the outside of the group and slipped into the house through a downstairs window.

Ino took the package while Naruto conjured another clone, which promptly transformed into an identical package that Naruto placed on the table. A well-aimed kunai eliminated the Aoi clone that was their target, and a second Naruto clone, conjured for the purpose, transformed itself into the guise of the middle-aged man Aoi's clone had taken. That done, Naruto grabbed both of his teammates by the upper arm.

'Brace yourselves- this is going to feel weird.'

With that, he body flickered away, taking them both with him.

It was a good this Naruto's body flicker took them a good distance outside the clearing, since it left Ino & Sakura dizzy & disoriented for a couple of minutes. Naruto could still hear the battle raging back at the compound; judging by the amount of clones that were being dispersed and the memories he was receiving from them, the small army was losing badly. With the thought of Aoi or one of the others coming after them in pursuit preying on his mind, he got the girls moving as soon as they were back on their feet and capable of walking straight. With his senses working overtime, straining to pick out the slightest sound that might warn of a coming attack, the journey back to their starting point seemed to take an age- but in the end, they got there without incident. Ino flopped down on the grass, exhausted from the pace Naruto had been setting.

'Whoa- I can't believe we just did it. Against a jounin and five chuunin…'

Naruto shrugged. 'Meh, don't let it go to your head. They were all holding back- this was a test of teamwork rather than ability.'

'And I'm pleased to say that you managed it!'

Aoi and his cohorts were emerging from the trees, his former students all looking a little the worse for wear. Tsuzumi clapped his old comrade on the shoulder.

'I have to say, Aoi-kun, the brats were good. I never would've expected them to take down your students so effectively, even if they were all holding back.'

Aoi's smile was warm and broad. 'Just when I thought I'd seen all you could do, Naruot, you surprise me again. When in the name of Kami-sama did you manage to learn the Oil Clone?'

Naruto's smile in return was positively wolfish.

'I didn't. I faked the seals for the Oil Clone, but actually pulled off a sealless Mist Servant technique in the pause where it looked like I was just focusing chakra.'

Shimon nodded appreciatively. 'You were right, Aoi- he's good. Taking a D-rank technique and making it look like you've performed an A-rank one- I'd expect that sort of thing from a wannabe chuunin, not a rookie genin.'

'Maybe. But, we're not here to assess Naruto's capabilities- I know full well what he can do. What we're interested it is how well you worked as a team. Despite the occasional hiccup, I'd have to say very well, given that you're just rookies. It's almost a given that you pass- meet me here at seven o'clock tomorrow morning for our first training session- and don't be late! Naruto, you can have the rest of the day off- no evening training.'

Aoi and the five chuunin- Tsuzumi, Shimon, Idate, Iruka & Hana- all disappeared using body flickers, and Naruto started walking toward the training ground exit while pulling his facemask down off his face.

'I'll see you tomorrow morning then.'

Waving over his shoulder to Ino, who waved back, Naruto ran off out of the training ground and towards the Inuzuka compound to see if Kiba's sensei had finished with his team yet.


	3. Chapter 3 Training Begins

AN- I don't own Naruto, blah blah blah.

Shunkou 101- Obviously not- the canon Aoi made off with the Raijin long before Naruto ever graduated the Academy. And no, I reiterate- it will not be a Team 9-some (AKA NaruSakuIno). That'd just be a little too predictable, neh? Once again, I'm not going to say anything about pairings other than that- and that I've already decided.

CHAPTER 3- TRAINING BEGINS

Ino had gotten up early the next morning, and had made it to the training ground with a few minutes to spare. She thought she'd be the first to arrive, and so was surprised to see Naruto already there, and moving through what looked like a taijutsu kata. Although Ino was no taijutsu specialist, she was fairly well versed in the basic Konoha style- well enough to tell that whatever Naruto was practising wasn't it. Whatever style he was using, it seemed to consist primarily of elbow strikes, knee strikes and open-handed thrusts, with the odd backfist- used in a downward swing, she noticed- and a couple of other odd moves mixed in. It also seemed very short-ranged; were he fighting against an actual opponent, he'd have to be standing almost toe-to-toe with them- he wouldn't be able to reach them otherwise.

He clearly noticed that she was there, as he broke off his kata and walked over.

'Morning, Ino- you're early.'

She giggled nervously in response.

'So are you. What was that taijutsu style you were using?'

'Ame Ryuu.'

This was a surprise to Ino- how did Naruto know enough about another hidden village's key taijutsu style to actually use it himself? Naruto answered the unspoken question.

'Aoi-sensei taught me- the Rokushou family isn't originally from Konoha. Aoi-sensei's grandfather was an Ame-nin who was forced to flee into exile.'

'So, you're good at taijutsu as well as ninjutsu? I'm glad I've got you on my team.'

Naruto arched an eyebrow, and Ino blushed- she was, truth be told, developing a crush on the sun-kissed shinobi. Sure, Sasuke was all cool and mysterious and a strong ninja to boot- but Naruto was all of these things too. Unlike Sasuke who'd been in their academy class from day one, he'd just appeared out of nowhere with all these incredible skills. And he was actually quite nice; he was bothering to talk to her where Sasuke would just grunt and ignore her.

'Pretty much. I'm not that good at genjutsu, though- the chakra manipulations are a bit too delicate for me. It's something I need to work on, since you need to be at least C-rank in genjutsu to be a jounin.'

'What else do you need? I've always been meaning to ask 'Tou-san, but I've never gotten round to it.'

'I'm aiming to be a ninjutsu master, so I need to have mastered at least two elements- if not more- and have gotten my taijutsu to around B-rank. If I do that I think I can scrape through with just C-ranked genjutsu.'

Before they could talk more Aoi walked into the training ground, Sakura just behind him, and cleared his throat so that they'd stop talking and listen.

'Alright! We're all here, so we'll start.'

The jounin, looked around at his three students, all of them listening intently.

'We're going to start with some taijutsu sparring. A well-training team of shinobi will fight like a well-oiled machine- to attain that level of coordination you'll need to know each other's abilities as well as you know your own. That means no secrets between teammates as far as your skills are concerned. That's the point of these spars- so that you can get used to how you all fight. We'll be doing this regularly as you train, since you're going to pick up new skills & styles over time. Naruto & Ino- you're up first. Light contact only.'

It wasn't an even fight. It was fortunate for Ino that Naruto pulled all his punches as instructed, since she would've been beaten black and blue if he hadn't. For a start, she couldn't seem to break through his guard; his blocks were slightly different to standard Konoha Ryuu ones, exerting more leverage with less effort. He was quick, too- she could only block about half his strikes, and he didn't bother to pull the ones she blocked- the result being that each blocked punch knocked her back a step or off balance. Then, he started working some of the shorter ranged Ame Ryuu moves into his fight, seeming to transition between this and the medium-ranged Konoha Ryuu almost effortlessly. By the time Aoi call a halt to the fight, she was flushed, sweaty and panting. Naruto was breathing hard as well, although to her dismay he looked as if he'd never fought within just a few minutes. Aoi was sparring with Sakura- an even more uneven contest- to give them both time to recover.

'Naruto, you weren't holding back were you?'

'No, I wasn't. It's just that I've got a lot more stamina than most people, and I recover quicker. I guess you could call it a kekkei genkai, sort of.'

'Wow, that's amazing! I've never heard of any bloodline like that- what else can you do?'

'I heal really quickly- minor bruises and cuts disappear by the morning after I get them. My blot clots quickly too, so I won't bleed to death easily. Last, it gets rid of most poisons- they'll make me sick, sometimes very sick, but they won't actually kill me.'

'That's- that's really useful! It could save your life, over and over again!'

Naruto smiled a little grimly.

'Yeah- but let's hope I won't have to put it to the test too often, eh?'

Aoi ended his spar with Sakura, having seen all he needed to see, and let the girl have a few minutes' rest before having her fight with Naruto. At the beginning Sakura had been eagerly cracking her knuckles, confident she'd beat the baka into the floor- at the end, she was just as tired and aching as Ino had been. After that Ino sparred with Aoi and didn't give a much better showing than Sakura, then Aoi with Naruto- a fight that Naruto eventually lost, though he managed to make Aoi reveal most of his taijutsu arsenal in the process. All that was left was a match between Ino & Sakura, where neither succeeded in gaining the upper hand. Afterwards, Aoi handed a scroll to each of them.

'These are your training schedules, Monday to Friday.'

The three genin opened their respective scrolls, with mixed responses when they saw the training programs Aoi had set out. Naruto acquired an almost manic grin, Ino's jaw dropped, and Sakura spluttered in protest.

'Taijutsu training seven till nine, team training nine till twelve, missions twelve till two, an hours' break, then medical training three till seven- with ninjutsu training instead of Tuesdays and group training on Fridays! Aoi-sensei, seriously- are you trying to burn us out?'

'I've got the same, except genjutsu training on Monday & Wednesday and ninjutsu Tuesday and Thursday. Sakura's right- this is too much!'

Aoi arched an eyebrow quizzically. 'You think that's bad? Tell them what you're doing, Naruto.'

Naruto's voice trembled with pure glee as he read off. 'Taijutsu six till nine, team training nine till twelve, missions twelve till two, an hours' break, ninjutsu three till seven on Tuesday and Thursday, with more taijutsu on Monday and genjutsu on Wednesday. Then an hours' evening break followed by an hours' free practice.'

He leapt up, his grin stretching from ear to ear. 'You rock, Aoi-sensei! You never worked me this hard before!'

The girls were staring at him slack-jawed, and Aoi was chuckling. 'See? Naruto's got a heavier schedule than either of you, and he seems anything but dismayed about it. Anyway, you're looking a fairly typical shinobi training schedule- for those shinobi who care about working their way up the ranks or doing their job to the best of their ability.'

Aoi's voice suddenly turned very very cold.

'You're Konoha ninja, and you're going to be on active duty before long. If you can't handle this, then give me your hitai-ite, walk out of here and don't bother coming back. I don't need shinobi on my team who are anything less that completely committed to their duty.'

There was absolute silence for what seemed like an age. Then, Ino spoke up, determination in every syllable of her words.

'I'm not backing out. I'm a Konoha kunoichi and I'm going to do my job.'

Aoi turned his full attention on Sakura, who seemed to shrink under his stare.

'Well? What do you say?'

The girl took a deep breath, then a second- and then seemed to steady herself.

'I'm in too.'

'Well- as a sign of your commitment, and a reminder of it for yourselves, I want you to remove your hitai-ite from where they are now and tie them around your foreheads, where they should be.'

It took less than a minute for them both to do it, removing the metal plates from where they'd been positioned before- front of the waist for Ino, top of the head for Sakura- and securing them on their foreheads. Aoi nodded with satisfaction.

'That's good. Now keep them there, you hear me? The hitai-ite's not just for decoration, you know- it's designed to protect your forehead.'

'Hai, sensei.' The girls chorused.

'Now, I'd like to talk about what roles you're all going to play on the team, and what kind of mission profile is going to be geared towards. As you've probably already guessed, Sakura, you're going to be the team medic- since genin aren't allowed to enter the medic-nin program, Hana's agreed to teach you. Ino, it's just a short step from your family mind techniques to genjutsu, so you're going to be our genjutsu expert. Finally, Naruto's going to be our offensive powerhouse. With his massive chakra reserves, clones, taijutsu & offensive ninjutsu, he's the best suited of the three of you to a head-on fight- not that I'm not going to make sure that both of you can look after yourselves as well. I'm trying to make it so Team 9 is a generalist team- you'll be able to handle just about any mission profile- from undercover intelligence gathering up to and including assassination. Understand all of that?'

Sakura had started looking more than a little shaken as Aoi mentioned that most extreme of mission profiles. 'Assassination, sensei?'

'Yes. Assassination. What, you thought you could be a shinobi without actually having to kill anyone? By this time next year you'll have had to kill at least one person. If you haven't, it's because you've washed out or been killed yourself.'

The blood drained from Sakura's face. In her blind devotion to winning the heart of the Uchiha boy, she'd clearly overlooked or ignored this important part of a shinobi's job.

'Surprised, are you? Don't be- you were at the academy for four years and had plenty of opportunity to take this on board, so ignorance is no excuse. Any way you put it, being a professional shinobi isn't a safe job, or a nice one.'

She closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. Sasuke-kun wouldn't so much as flinch if he heard this sort of thing- she couldn't either!

'I- I'm fine, sensei. I'm not quitting.'

'Good. Now, if we can move on I want to start the two of you on some chakra control training. It's quite simple- you've got to climb a tree without using your hands.'

The girls just stared- they didn't need to say anything, for the looks on their faces made it plainly clear that they were both thinking something along the lines of '_that's impossible_.'

'Watch carefully.'

Aoi then turned to face a tree at the edge of the forest and ran towards it. Just as they thought he was going to smash straight into it, he turned a vertical corner and ran straight up it, coming to a halt about halfway up the trunk.

'What you've got to do is release chakra from the tenketsu in your feet in order to stick to the bark. Too little and you'll fall off, too much and the bark will crack. I suggest you take it at a run until you get the hang of it.'

Ino and Sakura ran off towards two trees either side of the one Aoi was using, paused to focus chakra, then launched themselves up the trunks- only to unceremoniously fall straight off. Only the appearance of a pair of shadow clones courtesy of Aoi saved them from acquiring large lumps on their heads.

'Not as easy as it looks, is it? Well, keep at it and you'll get the hang of it eventually.'

'Sensei? Why isn't Naruto doing this exercise?'

Sakura suddenly realized Ino was right- Naruto was still standing back and watching- and whirled around. 'Yes, why isn't he doing this too?'

'Easy. He's already completed tree walking. I'm just about to go and set him a chakra control exercise- and a fairly advanced one at that. Now, get back to work- if you finish, I'll give you something different to work on.'

Leaving the girls with a couple of his clones to prevent any nasty falls, Aoi went over to the third member of his team.

'Now Naruto, I'm going to teach you how to create chakra strings. It's a different kind of control exercise to anything you've done before because it's quite an advanced test of shape manipulation. Watch.'

The jounin placed a kunai on a convenient tree stump, took a step back, and raised a finger to point at it. As Naruto watched, a thin string of blue chakra formed between Aoi's fingertip and the dagger. His sensei then twitched his finger upwards, raising the kunai a foot into the air above where it had rested, before, with another twitch of his finger, making it fly straight at Naruto- who managed to draw one of his own kunai in time and knock the weapon away.

'Well done. Now, put your kunai down on the tree stump. What you've got to do is dribble chakra out of the tenketsu on the tip of your finger, forming it into a string as you release it. Aim to attach it to the ring of the kunai, since that's the easiest way.'

For about an hour Aoi vacillated between the girls and Naruto, offering encouragement and advice as needed. After an hour Ino & Sakura had made it to the lowermost branches of their respective trees and repeated the exercise several times, so Aoi declared they were ready for the next level of exercise. Following him over to the lake set off to one side of the training ground, they were greatly amused by the sight of Naruto standing in front of the tree stump and pointing his finger at the kunai, apparently concentrating hard.

'What's he doing?'

'He's trying to make a chakra string, Ino. It takes a lot of skill with chakra control, but it's a very useful tool- I'll be teaching you both to do it at some point, since you've both got the control. But now, let's focus on what you've got to do, which is walk on the surface of the water using chakra. Again, you've got to expel chakra from your feet to do it. The difference is, this time instead of just focusing chakra in the soles of your feet you have to expel a constant flow- it's a lot more difficult, as you're about to find out.'

Mere seconds later, two simultaneous splashes- followed quickly by two simultaneous squawks of shocked surprise- told him that they had just found out.

By the time twelve o'clock had come around, they were both managing to stand stably on the surface of the water- although actually walking normally was a different kettle of fish entirely. Aoi clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention.

'Come over here, all of you- that's enough for today.'

The last couple of words he said were obscured by Naruto's sudden outburst.

'Aoi-sensei, I think I've got it! Watch!'

As the boy moved his hand upwards, the kunai lifted off the tree-stump with it. If you looked closely, you could see a thing string of chakra connecting the ring of the kunai to the tip of his index finger.

'That's very good, Naruto. All of you have done very well today. Now, we're going to the Hokage's tower to report for mission assignment.'

Fifteen minutes later…

'Dog walking, parcel delivery, babysitting, shopping, cat capture, litter picking, fence painting… Aoi-sensei, tell me this is just your idea of a joke and I'll let you off the hook this once.'

Aoi shook his head, chuckling at the chagrined expression on Naruto's face.

'Sorry kid, this is it. You're rookie genin- your teamwork is shaky and you've got no actual experience. D-ranks are all you're going to get until I say you're ready to move on.'

Ignoring his outraged students, Aoi walked up to the Hokage's desk.

'How many of those package delivery missions do you have, again?'

'Four of them.'

'I'll take them all, then.'

The silence hanging in the air was oppressive as Aoi led Team 9 to the place where the first mission slip said they were to pick up a package.

'Your first mission not what you thought it'd be, eh?'

Ino almost exploded. 'Not what I expected? You're damn right it's not! I can't believe shinobi have to do chores, even if we're being paid to do it!'

Aoi was still smiling after this outburst.

'Don't take anything at face value- that's one of the most basic rules we have. D-rank missions may seem like mindless scutwork, but they're actually a useful training tool. Package delivery, for example, is a common mission even at jounin level- it's just that you'll be delivering precious cargo and will possibly have other ninja trying to steal or destroy what you're carrying. This is the only time I'm giving you a hint like this though- with each type of D-rank we do, you have to guess the purpose of it.'

The parcel runs were easy enough- the first was for an elderly herbalist who owned a shop in the center of Konoha- he needed a package delivered to a client living near the outskirts of the village. It took longer than Naruto would've liked, since neither Sakura nor Ino had anywhere near his level of stamina and so needed to travel at a slower pace or else stop regularly. Once they'd got there, Aoi glanced at his timer and then eyed the girls critically.

'That took far too long- ninja carrying precious cargo in the field need to move as quickly as possible. I'll make sure you two get plenty of endurance training to build up your stamina. Now, here's where the next parcel's to be picked up from…'

All three genin were flushed and sweaty by the time the last delivery had been completed and they had made their way back to the centre of Konoha. Naruto, courtesy of his freakish stamina, was noticeably less tired than the girls, who hadn't ever focused on real endurance work like this before. Aoi walked ahead of them, leading them towards the Hokage's tower to get the missions signed off and then exchanged for pay slips for each of the genin. Once that was done, the jounin started leading his students into one of the backstreets, away from the village center, and towards a small corner café that announced itself, simply, as 'Shirogane's.' Konoha did have a slew of shinobi-only establishments- mainly equipment shops and bars- but Shirogane's was famous. The clientele were virtually a who's who of great Konoha shinobi- Mitarashi Anko, Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, Yuuhi Kurenai, Gekkou Hayate and many others besides. As Aoi led them across the small, crowded room to a miraculously free table, the sunglasses of the Aburame, cheek tattoos of the Inuzuka and black-pineapple ponytails of the Nara could be seen in places around the room. Gekkou Hayate himself sat at the table next to them, although he was a little too busy with his purple-haired girlfriend, Uzuki Yuugao, to talk to anyone.

A man in late middle age, with an impressive mane of silver hair, crossed the room towards them, leaning heavily on a wooden crutch. As he got closer, the genin saw why- his left ended abruptly below the knee. He clearly noticed Ino & Sakura's shocked stares, since he gave an amused smile.

'I tripped an exploding tag trap in the Konoha-Iwa war. Had to have what was left of my lower left leg amputated.'

Aoi grinned sharkishly at the stunned expressions on the girls' faces.

'Truth of shinobi life isn't pretty, is it? This is Shirogane Enjoji, everyone- he was my jounin-sensei. Enjoji-san, this is my new genin team- Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, and Uzumaki Naruto, who you already know.'

'It's so good to see you with another genin team, Aoi. Your last lot did so well- sensei as good as you are in demand!'

He turned his attention to the green genin, fixing Ino with a stare from eyes as silver as his hair.

'A Yamanaka- you'd be Inoichi's daughter, yes?'

Ino nodded. 'Yes, I am.'

'A fine shinobi- we were in the same graduating class. Tell him I said hello, will you- he hasn't been by for a week or so.'

It was then Sakura's turn to be given a once-over by the retired jounin.

'Hm- Haruno. First shinobi in your family?'

'That's right, Enjoji-san.'

'Well it has to start somewhere, doesn't it? I'm sure you'll be the first of many Haruno to serve Konoha as a ninja.'

Enjoji shuffled to turn around. 'Well, I'll fetch you a pot of tea- and how about some onigiri and pickles on the side?'

'That'd be nice. Thankyou, Enjoji-san.'

The man just waved the thanks away. 'Ah, it's the least I can do for one of my best students. And it's good to see you with another team of genin. After all, your first all turned out so well!'

As Enjoji moved away, picking his way around tables, Aoi leaned back in his seat and stretched. 'Now, I'd like to talk about the details of the training program I've devised for you- starting with taijutsu.'

He paused to make sure he had their undivided attention. Satisfied that he did, he then continued.

'As you already know, every ninja needs to be fairly proficient in taijutsu. Some- heavy-hitting powerhouses like Naruto, for instance- need to be better than fairly proficient, which is why he's devoting more time to it than either of you. Naruto, I've arranged for you to train with a jounin called Maito Gai, Konoha's greatest taijutsu master. Although I'm familiar with a variety of styles, I don't have much experience with the one he uses, Goken Ryuu. It basically focuses on doing as much damage as possible with each blow- Goken stylists focus heavily on physical conditioning, using weights and other forms of resistance training to enhance their strength and speed. Instead of weights, though, I'm going to put an Earth Chaining Seal on you- it'll increase the weight of your body to make your muscles work harder.'

Seeing that Naruto was nodding in understanding, Aoi turned his attention to the rest of the team.

'Now, you two both need to be at least proficient in taijutsu- it's almost impossible for a ninja to avoid getting into hand-to-hand matches regularly. Instead of going over Konoha Ryuu with you, I'm going to start teaching you Kiri Ryuu, which I think you're better suited to.'

He raised his voice a little to be heard over their splutters of surprise- each hidden village had it's own basic style, and they were normally well-kept secrets. It was extremely odd, therefore, that Aoi would know not only Konoha's style, but Ame & Kiri's styles as well.

'Kiri Ryuu focuses on redirecting your opponent's momentum, using their weight against them, rather than harder, more direct styles like Konoha Ryuu and Ame Ryuu. It includes a lot of kicking techniques too, which'll be good for you since unless you focus entirely on taijutsu, you'll have a lot of trouble matching the upper body strength of male shinobi. I think you'll both benefit from using it.'

Though it galled them both to be told that they were weaker, it was true- during Academy taijutsu practice, neither of them had been able to hit hard enough to really worry any of the boys. Besides, being told that the new style would improve their fighting power mollified them somewhat. Aoi, meanwhile, was continuing.

'I can't decide what direction you're going to take in ninjutsu until I know what your elemental natures are. We'll find out your affinities as soon as I've placed the Earth Chaining Seal on Naruto- the sooner I do that the better.'

At this point Enjoji placed a tray of food down in the middle of the table, and Aoi stopped talking to let them attend to it, using the tea to wash down the sticky rice balls. As the hungry genin finished off the meager meal, the silver-haired proprietor raised his voice from across the crowded room.

'The survival of Konoha, as you all know well, depends on a steady supply of young talent to maintain the ranks of our shinobi. We have some of that youngest, newest talent among us today- here's to Team Nine and their sensei, Rokushou Aoi!'

Saying this, he raised a dish of sake in a toast and drank deeply. All around the room shinobi of all ranks mirrored him, and an appreciative cheer rose into the air.

Back at the training ground, Aoi handed Ino and Sakura a piece of chakra-treated paper each and, once Naruto had stripped to the waist, set about inscribing the complex Earth Chaining Seal on his back. Once he'd completed it- and Naruto had sagged briefly under the extra weight- he took time to explain how it worked.

'If you want to deactivate it- or activate it when you've deactivated it- just focus chakra into the centre of the seal array. You should release it for one hour each day so that your body is accustomed to it- you'll start moving a lot quicker without the weight. You won't ever need to adjust the seal, since it'll automatically increase the weight once you've gotten used to it. Now, get back to your chakra string exercises. I want you to try and pick up five shuriken this time, one from each finger of your right hand.'

Leaving Naruto to work on this new, more difficult exercise- this wasn't something he would be able to complete in just a day- he returned to his other charges to find Ino holding a crumpled ball of paper- that, as he watched, seemed to crumble into dirt- and Sakura a small pile of ash.

'Ino, did it crumple up by itself, or did you do that?'

'By itself, Aoi-sensei.'

If Sakura and Ino had primary fire and lightning affinities respectively- and Ino a secondary affinity for earth (Aoi seemed to recall something about the Yamanaka as a family having an earth affinity) then Team Nine very conveniently had all five elements covered between them.

'Sensei? What does it mean when two things happen?'

Oh yeah- he couldn't ponder the matter right now, he had students to teach.

'It means you've got your family's earth affinity- but interestingly, it's secondary to your own affinity for lightning. Sakura, you on the other hand have a fire affinity- unsurprising, since most Konoha shinobi do.'

The jounin plucked a pair of leaves off a nearby bush and handed them to the two kunoichi.

'This is called the leaf exercise- what you're aiming to do is do to that leaf what those pieces of paper did by themselves- crumple it or burn it. Elemental chakra acts very much like the element itself- for fire, for instance, you have to visualize your chakra burning up.'

By the time the training session had come to it's end- four long hours later- the tip of Sakura's leaf had blackened and was beginning to smoke, whereas Ino had made no progress at all. Naruto had managed to attach shuriken to thumb and index finger and was in the process of creating a third chakra string. Aoi reminded them of the times they had be up and ready to start the next morning, then dismissed them, rolling his eyes as Naruto immediately sprinted off in the direction of Ichiraku's. The boy's ramen addiction was beyond even his ability to deal with.

* * *

AN- The Rokushou originally being Ame-nin is, of course, a nod to Aoi's appearance as a Ame jounin (and bad guy) in one of the filler arcs. As for his secondary affinities (Water is his primary one), I gave him Wind because Naruto needed a sensei who could help him master his primary element and Lightning as a nod to his wielding of the stolen Raijin in canon.

NON-CANON JUTSU

!-- /* Font Definitions */ font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ , , {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} 1 {page:Section1;} --

EARTH RELEASE- SNARE (From the story Team 8- credit goes to Viridian)

A D-rank earth technique that causes the ground around the target's feet to rise up and trap their legs.

FIRE RELEASE: FIREBALL TECHNIQUE

A weaker, D-rank version of the Great Fireball Technique

WIND RELEASE: BREAKTHROUGH

A weaker, D-rank version of the Great Breakthrough

FIRE RELEASE- BLAZING WHEEL TECHNIQUE

A C-rank fire technique that projects a wave of flame out from the user in all directions.

LIGHTNING RELEASE: THUNDERLANCE (From the story Chunin Exam Day- credit goes to Perfect Lionheart)

A C-rank lightning technique that projects a bolt of lightning in a straight line.

FIRE RELEASE: OIL CLONE TECHNIQUE

An advanced (A-rank) fire-natured clone technique that creates copies of the user out of black oil- the clones reform when dispersed and combust explosively when exposed to flame. Can be confused for the Mist Servant Technique.

TAIJUTSU STYLES (And their real-word equivalents)

Konoha Ryuu- Karate

Ame Ryuu- Ba Ji Quan

Kiri Ryuu- Hapkido

Look them up on wikipedia if you don't know what they are. I'm aware the last two aren't Japanese martial arts, but just go with it, okay?


	4. NOT A NEW CHAPTER EITHER

To everybody who's been waiting eagerly for the fourth chapter of Team 9- I thoroughly apologize. In fact, make that a proper groveling apology.

Team 9 is being rewritten. In fact, scratch that. Vast portions of the plot- both the plot so far, what there is of it, and what was to come- are being torn down and refurbished. Team 9 is in the process of being completely _reimagined_.

Some things, admittedly, won't change. Aoi-sensei will still be there. Iruka, Idate & Hana will still have been his first genin team. Naruto will still have been trained under Aoi rather than in the Ninja Academy.

Some things _will_. The Ninja Academy- scratch that, the whole Ninja _system_- will depart radically from canon norms.

The Narutoverse as is was just fine as shounen manga/anime. I, however, desire a more mature Narutoverse (and one that isn't centered around Sasuke, but I digress)- and to make the story more mature, it's central characters must be more mature.

Think of this as a _mature_ (and not exclusively in the sexual or violent sense) reimagining of both the Naturoverse in general and the Team 9 fic in particular.

Now, Adios! Time spent writing this is time taken away from completing chapters! God knows I've been on hiatus far too long already!

lkm


End file.
